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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/23763799">Stay Young, Go Dancing</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/jattendrai/pseuds/jattendrai'>jattendrai</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Mother 2: Gyiyg no Gyakushuu | EarthBound, Mother 3</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Comfort, Gen, Graduation, Growing Up, M/M, Post-Canon</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-04-21</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-04-21</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-02 17:55:16</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>6,720</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/23763799</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/jattendrai/pseuds/jattendrai</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>It was different, for him, in many ways. Sometimes, he felt like his old life was slipping from him, and it made his gut ache at night. He would be lying next to Jeff, curled into their own selves but facing each other, and Lucas would feel like crying --- he could feel it, his parents disappear in his life, his brother no longer there to experience him growing up.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Jeff Andonuts/Tony</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>6</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>35</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Stay Young, Go Dancing</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>happy anniversary mother 3! and tony if ya out there call me beep me sometime, I wanna know how you are, where you been, if you still cosplay. </p><p>Fic is based off of Stay Young, Go Dancing by Death Cab for Cutie, I Never Told That to Anyone by Transit, Nothing Left to Lose by Transit, San Francisco by The Mowgli's, and personal experience for the most part ha</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>It’s easy to remember the days spent whacking baseball bats against TVs and dressers, ditching rental houses and comparing gas prices from import and export towns.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Duster always drove with a concrete foot and an iron grip, while scaring the living shit out of Kumatora who sat passenger in the seat which was designed a no-airbag zone by the big sticker that decorated the glove box, bold and yellow as she was faced with near-death if the driver ever decided to not brake early enough.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>But the music was sweet and the snacks they pilfered from the sparse gas stations were sweeter, and she made sure they stopped somewhere every night for a shower and a good night’s sleep that wasn’t situated at a hundred-and-twenty degree angle.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>They stopped at small-town monuments ( Duster wanted to see the world’s largest penny, of </span>
  <em>
    <span>course </span>
  </em>
  <span>they had to stop there), swerved from hitting just enough deer and turtles, sped past enough sheriffs and got carsick plenty enough before finding themselves a new place to finally call home for whatever time they’ll have.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It was a dinky shithole, and it was perfect.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Lucas, being the most eccentric one, immediately made friends with the neighbor kid by standing in the driveway and making eye contact with them the moment they got off the bus, unwavering as they trotted along the cement sidewalk and up their perfectly trimmed lawn to their door, where they stopped and looked back at Lucas with knitted brows and a key firmly in the door.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“ Hey.” Was all Lucas could muster, meanwhile Kumatora was struggling to figure out where the water heater was and nearly busting a fist-shaped dent into the garage door. The prey he decided on was a lanky, pissed-off looking blonde kid with angular rims and a prescription thick enough to see God with. Their curly hair was a pseudo-mullet outline that hid their fivehead and the back of their neck, which were all speckled in dark freckles. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“ Just moved in?” The kid asked, making no move to meet and greet Lucas where he stood. They just stared at each other with blank faces.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“ Yeah. I’m Lucas.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“ Jeff.” The kid called. Lucas threw up a shaka sign and nodded.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“ Good to meet you.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“ You too. I’m going inside now, see you.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“ Yeah!” Lucas called enthusiastically as Jeff slipped into his house. Little did they know that they were both the same level of weird, perfect for each other.</span>
</p><p><br/>
<br/>
<br/>
</p><p>
  <span>It took two months to get Lucas into schooling, as he had no government papers on him besides a registered birth certificate in another country, attached to the names of dead amish family that went up and disappeared with the fire that took his village. Duster struggled just as hard, having been raised an almost secret to the system by his abusive father, he wasn’t on any government documents and had nothing to identify him with, no medical signatures or highschool diploma. Lucas quipped that at least he wasn’t amish, and Kumatora would cackle while snaking the drain.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It was not a surprise that he was going to be on the same bus as his neighbor of three inches away, or that they were going to the same school. It was weird to get on it for the first time, unprepared to be thrusted into public education after spending years at a wooden table with his brother as his only classmate, his mother their only teacher and lunch lady. Bet these ones couldn’t make as mean of an omelette as her, though.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Getting on one Friday morning, wearing his best shoes and still tasting the name-brand toothpaste he used for the first time this morning in the back of his throat, he marched up the steps into the metal hot dog car and was immediately bombarded with the fact that nobody was on the bus besides Jeff. He had admittedly run for the bus a little late, despite it being literally just down the road to his house, so his neighbor hopped on without him seeing. But he had expected more, perhaps; he had just recently engaged with Hollywood, and in all the movies and tv shows he watched he saw bustling rows of kids yelling and beating on each other, securing seats for their friends and sending the losers to the back. Instead it was just Jeff sitting back there.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“ Hey!” Lucas called, moving to sit on the seat opposite to him. He had to pull out his headphones to hear, so Lucas repeated himself.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“ Where is everyone?” He asked immediately.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“ We’re the first pickups. Got a long drive-about ahead. Where’s your backpack.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Jeff had a bag taking up the window seat, an army green one full of what looked like bullshit and unzipped at the top. Lucas made a performative turn to look at his empty window seat.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“ I don’t have one.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“ You’ll be needing one.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“ Really?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“ Here. Feel mine.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He handed it over, and it immediately went </span>
  <em>
    <span>thud </span>
  </em>
  <span>as Lucas’ arm gave out trying to hold it.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“ Woah.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“ That’s just the books you have to carry around. Wait until you get into electives.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“ No bags in the aisle, sir.” The driver called back to them. He threw up a shaka sign and dragged his bag under his feet.</span>
</p><p><br/>
<br/>
</p><p>
  <span>Within the first month Lucas realized three things.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>One, he doesn’t like school. Gym and lunch are fun, and after he was taught how to use a computer it got a little more comfortable, as he was now ‘in’ with the computer games everybody else would play during lectures and in free time. History was pretty mind-blowing, especially when he learned about assassination conspiracy theory documentaries and the fact that French people exist. Nobody really bullied him, and he was sort of a novelty to the kids wanting to know more about amish life and why he was integrated into society, and to show him the jokes people online make about amish people ( which were pretty funny, he got them banned from phone use for wheezing himself to tears over a specific image during quiet study hall). Overall everything was pretty average, but school just was not fun and so he just didn’t like it. His math teacher was an especially random asshole.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Second, Jeff was pretty cool. They came to actually talk to each other and meet eye-to-eye. Jeff showed him all sorts of stuff to keep him on fast track to culture, like anime AMVs set to alternative music on a website called YouTube, these video games of stick figures fighting each other with wicked sick ‘ninja’ moves, the concept of video games and video game cheat codes ( there was like a black market for this stuff during lunch, it was incredible what power a ripped out strip of paper had in making you fly across a map in a video game). He showed Lucas all the trophies the school cheated to win, where kids go to smoke, the soda machine he can put a quarter into to get cherry-flavored water in a bottle, and the entire sport of Lacrosse. They became quick friends, and in return Lucas listened to all his music without making fun of him for liking a band called Bowling for Soup ( had to be explained what bowling was to think it’s funny), drew him goofy comics to pass back and forth during the few classes they had together, and quoted movie lines at him that turned into full-scene-reenactments that only they find funny.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Third, that he </span>
  <em>
    <span>really</span>
  </em>
  <span> loved Duster’s cooking. Kumatora was previously the cook of the house, but Duster has shown to be just of a chef as she was, and since she became the breadwinner with a job to tie them down it was now on others to pick up the slack at home while she nursed her aching feet in a baking soda-infused bucket of water in the kitchen.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Lucas never told Jeff they were eating cheap gas station snacks for the first three weeks, mainly because he did not see this as something that was out of the ordinary. It was when his school lunch balance went null and he came to school eating only pop tarts for a straight week that Jeff gave him a look and like, twenty dollars.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>But when the big shop came, and Kumatora helped them navigate a grocery store, they came home with the spoils and Duster kicked into high drive to cook. Soup in a pot big enough to house Lucas in it ( he has sat in it before), bread thick enough that indents were left by their hands while holding it down for the cut, and delicious factory-squeezed orange juice. The saltiness of the soup compared with the sweetness of the butter was like being welcomed home, and it was so good that Lucas brought some over to Jeff on his sharing-is-caring instincts.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>They sat on his small porch while Jeff ate the soup from the bowl Lucas brought over, watching the sun set against their tiny suburbia community.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“ So, how is--” he took a spoonful of carrot, celery, chicken, and broth, “-- this treating you?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“ It’s amazing, honestly.” Lucas smiled at his friend and played with his shoelaces, knees up to his chin. “ I hate school, but it’s fun, too. I’m excited for summer vacation.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“ Same.” Jeff was never a good conversationalist, but to Lucas he was interesting in every sentence he spoke, even when he didn’t speak at all and just clicked his spoon against his bowl. Sat there with him as he quietly ate his soup, before returning the bowl and heading inside with a ‘’see ya later.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Within three months they were practically attached at the hip. Lucas was quickly introduced to Jeff’s surprisingly big friend group via school; he met Paula, a tall girl with long hair and a propensity to getting herself sent to the principal’s office, during lunch time as they played basketball together in the gym. She lived in a little gated community they would bike to sometimes, and she and Lucas hit it off pretty good --- not really friends, but they hang out together whenever Jeff wants to.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ninten was a bit funnier. He sat in front of Lucas in Language Arts, though he didn’t notice due to how Ninten spent every class laying face-down in his arms and drooling. He was a short kid with box braids down to his ass and has the mutual reflex of giving everybody the shaka hand sign when talked to, so obviously they became good friends once Jeff formally introduced them.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>There was Pu, who was the abroad kid that latched onto Jeff in the previous semester like Lucas has down now; he was pretty tall, with long hair pulled back against his head every day and the biggest, goofiest smile on his face that only grew even bigger if you asked him if he wanted to go get some burgers and fries. He was really good at playing Lightning but dribbled poorly, and Lucas had a hard time trying to get closer to him because of how much time he spent latching onto Jeff or faking Paula out with the ball. He was pretty cool, though.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ness was Lucas’ only friend made outside of Jeff, he played baseball and caught Lucas sitting in the dugout eating fast food after school one day, and they became friends quickly. An afro-wearing short kid with size twelve shoes and arms capable of hitting home runs to Jupiter, he showed Lucas the fun in playing baseball in the fields after school when the flood lights came on and drinking nasty coffee outside of gas stations. They ran away in the night to play on swing sets and climb trees, and when Lucas got his first phone it was Ness’ number he put in first.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The days became easier with all of these new faces, so different and unique to each one with stories to tell of their own way. He remembered so many small, individual quirks about each and every one of them: that Paula liked to hang up her failing test sheets on her small bedroom walls; that Pu liked listening to emo music and collected sweatshirts of concerts he’s never gone to; that Ness was a little mama’s boy that had his mother as his only phone contact; that Jeff kept a journal full of anything from restaurant receipts to detention slips.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He showed Lucas his journal the first time he was ever over at his house, which was around four months after meeting. Jeff adamantly refused everybody access to his house, even Lucas, and would only sometimes stay over at others. He talked about something with his father, and that he didn’t want people to see his room.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Lucas let anybody in, though. Duster helped Lucas set up his room to be more liveable, and even brought him home things like a CRT TV and a dresser he didn’t have to share. Kumatora told him he could use thumb tacks to hold things up on the wall, and that you can get stuff like posters of your favorite movies or video games, or take pictures that you can tape up too. He went to town with it, and soon his walls were covered from floorboard to ceiling.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Jeff came in through the window, and took the seat on his bed; covered in three different blankets and a comforter, his friend sunk right in and almost disappeared. They did nothing but chat a little while Lucas shaved off some time on his games, and Jeff ended up pulling out his journal to doodle some stuff. Lucas, having not known privacy, came up to see what that was, and Jeff was surprisingly okay with showing him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Each page felt meticulously decorated, wrinkled, and stained to tell a visual story. There was everything from old school IDs to parking violations taped and glued on the pages, washi tape lining tops and bottoms and over marked out words. Stickers decorated the margins and told of the museums he went to, states he’s been, places he donated to. He wrote dates, times, took photos and recaptured memories in red and black markers, underlines and highlights crafting the mundane everyday entries into their own pieces of art on the page. Lucas barely read any of it, just gazed at the months of memories captured onto the page, wordlessly flipping each crinkling page after the next while Jeff curled up into himself and watched.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“ This is really cool!” Lucas exclaimed as he hit the empty pages, returning the leatherbound book back to his friend. Jeff’s face was expressionless, but Lucas knew he was flattered.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“ Thank you,” He placed it back into his bag, “ You didn’t read any of the stuff I wrote, did you?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“ Nope! Just looked at all the photos and stuff you had in there.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“ Good,” Jeff nodded his head and rubbed at his cheek.</span>
</p><p><br/>
<br/>
</p><p>
  <span>Half a year in, and Kumatora got them their first couch, Duster had his first doctor’s appointment, and Lucas experienced his first birthday outside of his old life.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It was the same way in Amish life as it was in this life, only real difference was in the gifts that were given; instead of ponies and dolls and clothes, he was given all sorts of new and exciting things he had never seen before. Paula gave him a handheld gaming console that let him play games on the bus, and she even got him a ‘limited edition’ version, which, in her words, “ means it’s extra cool and shit.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ninten got him his first bike, saying his mother went out and picked it with him for Lucas, and that she sent her love with it. They all spent hours on the road teaching him how to use it, holding it up for him like training wheels as he peddled around before letting him go. A few even ran home to get their own bikes, coming back to show him cool tricks they could do and how you can decorate yours with stickers and streamers.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Pu stopped by and gave him a card with money, which was just as cool as a physical gift. He also gave Lucas a hug, and it lifted him off his feet. It was a good hug.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ness gave him some CDs of the bands he’s been enjoying, and told him how he could play them on his TV with the DVD slot. They’d jam out in his room at a later date with them, he promised.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Jeff brought him a book, a leatherbound one wrapped in newspaper along with a small case of disposable cameras. Paula made fun of him for such a ‘parent gift’, but Lucas gave him a hug once he opened it up and saw what it was. He was excited to fill the pages just like Jeff did, and used the first click of a disposable camera to capture a picture of his friends to put in the very first page.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Duster got him socks, and Kumatora said the cake she baked is a good enough present before lightly punching him in the arm, that goofy, Kumatora-signature smile on her face. She called in for the kids to come and eat their cake, and they all dropped their bikes and ran into the house like animals.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The birthday song sung, the candles blown out, they all stood in the table-less kitchen and ate ice cream cake off paper plates with funny hats on, fighting over the best type of cake flavor ( it was obviously angel food cake, though Ness was sure it was chocolate or cookie dough ice cream), Kumatora coming in and out to steal bites of Lucas’ piece before disappearing into the backyard doing who-knows-what.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>At sunset they were all called outside, where a small bonfire was set up, a collapsable table full of what was apparently ingredients to a treat called a s’more, just enough beach chairs standing so everybody but one got a seat. They burnt marshmallows, played the radio, and continued bickering about the best flavors of certain things ( ice cream, soda, slushies, popsicles). The whole time Lucas couldn’t stop smiling.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>By nightfall most of everybody went home, saying their goodbyes on the backs of their bikes before pedalling away. It was just Lucas, Jeff, and Duster left as Kumatora hit the bed early, without even helping fold up the chairs.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“ Wanna watch a movie?” Jeff asked. Lucas didn’t even care to ask what kind of movie, he just nodded excitedly and went back to his room.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>A thrilling hour-and-fifty-minutes of learning about the rise and fall of the biggest energy, commodity, and services company in the United States ended out his birthday, and Jeff jumped the window with his last goodbyes and birthday wishes. Lucas went to bed that night the happiest he had ever been, unable to stop thinking about the day and kicking his feet in joy. It took him a while to fall asleep, but he knew it would be a pleasant one.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Paula whispered something to Ness while Lucas attempted to un-stuck his foot from the baby swing. Not knowing about privacy, Lucas immediately questioned what was up.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“ Jeff has a crush on someone,” Paula pointed at the boy down on the beach, standing on top of the metal dock with his back turned towards them. He had frizzy brown hair in a sort of mop top, and his swimming trunks had Patrick Star all over them.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Of course, Lucas thought she was pointing at some girl in the water instead, and grazed passed the boy. He saw Jeff wading around near the deep end with a girl and assumed it was her.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“ Who is she?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“ Nah, the kid on the dock, dude!” Paula said a bit louder. Said kid, after making a dumb flexing motion, jumped into the water canonball style, splashing a few innocent bystanders who threw up a solid nine-finger rating on the jump. He pushed up out of water and swept his hair back with a great big smile, showing his buck tooth grin fully.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“ Tony likes Jeff, and I think Jeff likes Tony too, but he’s too scared to admit it.” Paula continued. The two sat on top of a picnic bench with their towels draped over it, drinking bottled soda in the shade. Lucas trotted closer to them to listen, “ I think Tony wants Jeff to ask him out, but Jeff is too shy to do it, which is making Tony worried that it’s one-sided.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“ I didn’t know Jeff liked boys.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“ He likes to keep it private because of his family,” Paula strung a hand through her hair, “ Nobody knows what’s up with them, but he doesn’t like talking about it. I get it, at least.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Lucas just nodded.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“ What about you?” He asked. Paula raised her eyebrows.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“ What? My family?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“ No, you got a crush?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“ Yeah, this girl named Ana in my art class is pretty sweet. She’s a grade ahead of me though, so she’s going to highschool before me.” She said, looking down at her cuticles with a small pout.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“ Highschool?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“ Yeah? It’s the place you go to after middle school. It’s the big building by Walmart.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“ There’s more schooling after this?” Lucas sounded genuinely surprised.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“ What do you mean?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“ Everybody in my family stopped school after 8th grade. Too much knowledge leads to pride to the village, so we only had eight years of it.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“ Damn, I wish we only had eight years!” Paula laughed.</span>
</p><p><br/>
<br/>
</p><p>
  <span>Jeff and Paula started a band, with Ninten on the drums. Paula played guitar and backup vocals, and Jeff was lead vocals but backup guitar. They managed it by taking Band and getting to use the instruments, though Ninten had apparently had his own set since he was eight, just sort of sitting in his basement. Lucas didn’t know any of them had musical inclinations, but listening to them played showed they weren’t half-bad.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The kid Jeff had a crush on apparently --- Tony was his name, didn’t go to their school because he went to the one on the rez --- also began popping up more and more in the small hodge-podge friend group. He was the same height as Jeff, and smiled a whole lot more than him. His school wore uniforms, which were these ugly white shirts and green pants, and he was almost never seen outside of it besides on weekends.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Jeff had brought him into the group, with Ness and Paula sharing (sincere) glances at each other before looking at Lucas with the same face. They all knew, though maybe the others didn’t. They accepted Tony in with open arms.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Practice was always at Ninten’s house, in his dusty, wooden basement with the low-hanging ceiling and carpet that ate up anything you accidently dropped in it. Lucas was invited to listen, along with Pu, and they would sit at the family bar down there and listen to their friends tune instruments and test out the latest tunes they were trying. Mostly they just covered songs they already knew, but sometimes Ninten would have an original drumline cooked up or Jeff would want to try and test out a new lyrical formation, and soon they would be attempting to write a song as best as they could for kids who never learned to read sheet music.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Paula was good at both the acoustic, electric, and banjo, and sometimes Ninten could do that sick finger twirl with his sticks. Jeff was alright, nothing special to stand him out as the front; they tried to fix their image, to make them ‘stand out’ more, but all that came to was Ninten showing up in a king’s crown and cape, Paula in an expensive varsity jacket, and Jeff in a cosplay of some robot character with pointy shoulders.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It was perfect.</span>
</p><p><br/>
<br/>
</p><p>
  <span>Eight grade graduation came all too quick. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Lucas basically was given a test to see if he could move on to highschool despite no recorded education previously. His friends all passed the room during lunch to give him thumbs up through the door window, throw up shaka signs, and wave at him to get him in trouble. Thankfully, he managed to pass, and the teacher wished him good luck on his transition to highschool.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>By then, everything was different. They no longer worried about having to up and move away again, of losing jobs and packing away the same twelve things into the back of Duster’s truck, heading off to nowhere in particular. They finally felt some semblance of footing on the ground, from Kumatora’s well-paying, full time job that begged her to stay, Lucas moving on up to highschool, and Duster starting a small garden in the backyard. They were coming home to a place that felt like it, like home; they had beds now, TV subscriptions and stains in the bathroom from hair dye that would be taken out of their security deposit. Lucas had friends, mediocre grades, favorite places to eat at, and even his name was written on a bench somewhere in town.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It was different, for him, in many ways. Sometimes, he felt like his old life was slipping from him, and it made his gut ache at night. He would be lying next to Jeff, curled into their own selves but facing each other, and Lucas would feel like crying --- he could feel it, his parents disappear in his life, his brother no longer there to experience him growing up. He ached for the old home with nothing but basins and carved out chairs and hand-sewn clothes; of waking up to the sound of chickens bawking and his brother his only friend, his only classmate, his only companion.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He didn’t want to miss it, but he did. He told Jeff everything while crying, about his life growing up and how it was so minimal and mundane but that he loved it, but he hated it, but he missed it. He never wanted to see his father again but he missed getting picked up by him and hustled over to help pull vegetables. He missed his mother making him the same thing every morning, an omelette with nothing in it besides cheese, and how he loved the omelettes here so much more with the celery and oregano and different types of cheese in it with ketchup or hot sauce on top. He missed it all, but he hated every morning and night of it.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It sounded silly to him, through sobs, but Jeff seemed to understand. It was something he never told anybody, not even Duster or Kumatora, entirely. They were all outsiders who wouldn’t understand, nobody understood besides those in the village who were there for it.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>But Jeff seemed to, even just slightly, understand. He held Lucas’ arm as he cried that night, staying up to watch the lightning roll across the clouds from the window that felt so far away.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>When it was morning --- not morning, but that predawn morning, where the world became lighter even though the sun wasn’t up. That morning, Jeff got out of the bed, and Lucas watched.He opened it up, let in the cold air. He didn’t sit on any chair, didn’t stand either; just sat on the ground before the window, leaning up against the desk, and looked out at the morning. He must’ve thought Lucas was asleep.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It was blue. Out there, in the window. The room was dark, and the blue light cascaded inwards, lighting the world up like they were in a glass of water.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“ What was your family like?” Lucas asked quietly. Jeff didn’t startle at the question.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“ I don’t know. I just live with my dad, but he’s gone during the day and busy at night. Stopped really talking to me when I was like, nine, so I spent my time in my room.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“ My dad was like that, too.” Lucas snorted.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“ What was your brother like?” Twenty-One questions was Jeff’s favorite game to play. Lucas liked it, too.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“ He was pretty cool. I don’t really know what else to say about him.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“ That’s fair,” Jeff rubbed his hand together.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He wanted to ask something, Jeff. Seemed to be rolling it around in his head for a minute, wondering if this was something to be asked. Lucas didn’t mind invasive questions, privacy wasn’t something he grew up with.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“ What happened, if I can ask.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“ With my village?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“ Yeah. There were some headlines on it, but nothing much.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“ There wasn’t much to it, really.” Lucas tried to sit up, feeling dehydrated from all that crying previously. “Arson, I guess. The community went up in flames and got displaced. I think everybody else went to like, the other communities elsewhere.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“ And you didn’t?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“ Nah. My dad didn’t like me, so I just tagged along with Kuma and Duster, instead --” A loud yawn, a jaw pop. “ We tried other towns, but it was hard. Now we’re here.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“ Are you going to go away again?” He turned to Jeff, who, for once, looked a bit sad.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“ I don’t think so. It’s nice here. I like being here.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Jeff nodded. The sun was rising behind the trees.</span>
</p><p><br/>
<br/>
</p><p>
  <span>The ceremony was very dramatic, apparently.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>All the eight graders had to come to the school at like, five o’clock, dressed in their best outfits, so “ no sneakers, no jeans, and no t-shirts”. Lots of kids showed up in frilly dresses or black strapless, which made the teachers go insane, while most of the boys showed up in their church pants and a cheap button-up and tie.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Paula was the only friend in the group that was a year behind, so she came dressed in an regular old outfit and sat out on the gym bleachers. Ness came in the black slacks and button up look, and was jumping up and down in excitement because it was the first time he ever got to wear something so masculine to a public event. He needed help with his tie though, and his mother lovingly knotted and smoothed it out against him in the parking lot.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ninten pulled his braids back into a ponytail, dressed in a full-on black suit and red tie, with shiny church shoes squeaking against the lunch room floor. He was the most fancily dressed, and Paula gave him non stop shit for coming to </span>
  <em>
    <span>eight grade graduation</span>
  </em>
  <span> dressed like he ran a company. They ran after each other, dodging parents and little siblings.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Pu came with his host family, and was dressed in a soft looking dress with long sleeves and a high neck collar, and his hair brushed down. His host family’s daughter clung to him like he was her brother, and he slung her around his arm and marched over to the friend group to say his hellos, smiling bright all the same.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Lucas, having not owned any ‘fancy clothes’, was taken by Duster shopping for some the night before, stressfully asking the counter salesperson for any help on the matter. They were brought around the store to various sections that had men’s, women’s, and children’s outfits to choose from, and some shoes in the back. Lucas’ eye immediately caught on a buttercup yellow button-up and striped bell-bottom pants, and a pair of flats the color of the morning sky. Jeff said he looked like he was trying to be the embodiment of Easter, and he laughed.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Jeff came in a simple white shirt, black slacks, sneakers, and red tie. The teacher never caught him wearing the shoes until it was too late, and knowing he couldn’t be punished because he was no longer a student of the school, he had managed one final disobedience to the school system.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>They were all corralled like chickens into an empty classroom, where they had to wait for almost an hour before the ceremony, shooting the shit with checkers, cards, playing on their phones, and gossiping. When it became too rowdy, they were allowed onto the elementary school playground, and they occupied their time with tire swing shenanigans and monkey bar races.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Tony showed up with his family, to the surprise and flushed expression of Jeff. It was when they were being marched into the back of the gym that he caught sight of him, waving vigorously at Jeff with a bright smile and a bouquet of flowers for him in his hands. Ness gave Lucas a shove and an eye-roll, which Lucas replied with all the same.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The ceremony was tedious, boring, and loud. They were all forced in a single-file line behind some curtains, and were let through one-by-one like paratroopers jumping from a plane to make sure a double-kid pile-up didn’t ensue in the seats. When it was Ness’ turn to walk out, he decided to be funny and do the Nixon Wave, which caused a ripple effect to the rest of the kids entering in with ridiculous reactions; Ninten kissed and waved his hands like he was a celebrity, Pu did a twirl-mid walk, and Lucas threw up a fist like he was about to walk on stage and perform the sickest rap of his life. The teachers were pissed with a capital P, but the parents roared in a cheer at each kid.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The goodbye speeches were spoken, the diplomas handed out, the final congratulations by the principal handed out. Just barely could Lucas make out Kumatora and Duster in the stands, Kumatora screaming Lucas’ name every time there was any clapping and Duster taking as many pictures as he could. Paula sat front-row, alongside Tony and that big ass bouquet, and they cheered all the same when their friends were called up.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Post-ceremony was punch and cake in the lunch room for students and parents. There the group was momentarily broken up by crying parents, tight hugs, bouquets and roses, and little siblings wanting cake </span>
  <em>
    <span>so badly</span>
  </em>
  <span>.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Pu’s host family cried and held him, as this was probably the last year they would be having him, and Ness’ mother kneeled down to hold his hand and tell him how proud she was of him, with his sister handing him a gift and some flowers with a smile. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ninten’s extended family came and surrounded him with congratulatory pats and hugs, and two twin sisters grabbing at his legs to bring him down to the ground in a love attack.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Kumatora, ever the one to jump Lucas, grabbed him by the shoulders when he wasn’t looking and locked him into a bear hug, while screaming into his shoulder, “ Awwwwwww, my little boy is growing up!!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Duster was a bit gentler, and came up looking almost sad. His eyes watered, and carefully he presented Lucas with three roses and a small, wrapped gift. He spoke softly, warmly to Lucas, “ I’m really proud of you for doing this. I knew you would do well.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Lucas rubbed at his eyes trying not to cry, “ Thanks, Duster.” The gift was a bag of chocolates and a new video game, and he hugged Duster tightly as a thank you.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Jeff was left standing, drowning in the ocean of families alone. He tried to move away from the waters, pinning his back to a wall for security as he tried not to look at anybody and their happy expressions, though it was a bit hard to hold it all back. A small tap on his shoulder alerted him, and raising his head he came to meet the gaze of a melancholic looking Tony.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Lucas watched, as Tony carefully handed the bouquet to Jeff, who had to take it in both his hands. They were talking, saying something, and Jeff was staring at the flowers while Tony was staring directly at him. In a moment they slipped away to the back of the lunch room, where the bathrooms were, and out of sight.</span>
</p><p><br/>
<br/>
</p><p>
  <span>Of course they were having a post-graduation party in their backyard, how else was Duster going to show off his new garden to a bunch of fifteen year olds?</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It was all set up by the time they got home, the chairs back out and fire back up, tables of s’more ingredients and sodas ready. Kumatora forced them all to order a pizza if they wanted one, and after a lot of pushing and shoving, it was Ninten who was chosen as the brave caller that would relay their orders for the rest of the cowards.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The soda was carbonated, the pizza was hot, the music was loud; what was there to not love about it? Not only that, but they were all highschoolers now! Ninten did a jig over the fire, Paula laughing with a mouthful of pizza. Ness had to invite his sister over if he was going to be allowed out this late, and in turn Ninten had to bring his twins over, and it wasn’t long until the three young girls were planning war in a tree against the highschoolers.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Jeff and Tony rode over with Lucas in Duster’s truck, causing a sort of predicament of things; the adults were set into the single seat in front of the truck, and all the kids were relegated to the back truck bed. Of course, this was absolutely illegal on all accounts, but as Jeff always said, “ It’s only illegal if you get caught.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Pu was dropped off a bit late by his host family, and came bearing his own food from some fast food chain they apparently went to for their own post-ceremony. Ninten tried pilfering the fries, and Pu lovingly put him in a headlock over it, causing everybody to scream-laughing.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It was a good night, reminding Lucas of his birthday some months ago; this time, Paula asked if they could maybe perform some songs. Ninten’s drums were at home, but Jeff stored their guitars in his garage, and they had a few garden boxes they could stand on as makeshift stages. Everybody roared, wanting to hear their friends play, and after a few jumps between yards they had managed a pretty decent setup.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>No mic to amp the sound or his voice, they all took a seat to listen to their friends; Jeff was a bit too shy to sing as first, and they simply played a few tunes in a duet of guitars, and it was wonderful all like that to Lucas. The sound was sweet, and every time they paused their friends would clap and cheer for them, only causing Jeff’s face to become redder ( probably because Tony was there, clapping the loudest).</span>
</p><p>
  <span>After what he would end up calling, “a few warmups”, Jeff braved the horrors of being listened to, and sang exactly two songs for the grads. Both times they all stayed absolutely quiet, his voice complimented by the sound of a crackling fire and the soft rustling of leaves. He sang uplifting songs, ones of living in the bellies of beasts and being in love, and it was warm and inviting and felt just like how Lucas had always felt around him, around them all; warm, loved, safe.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Tony swapped to the music from the porch, Ninten enraptured by the music that he for once sat still to listen. Paula’s hair swished from side to side as she plucked the chords, eyes closed and mouthing the lyrics she seemed to know perfectly. Even Duster and Kumatora came out to listen, standing in the doorway of the sliding porch entryway, just listening and watching. Lucas closed his eyes and let himself get swept away by the greater picture of it all, and for once --- for once, he did not want to go back. He wanted to stay here, with absolute certainty. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He never wanted to leave.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>When it ended, and Jeff awkwardly brought his hands to his side, the group cheered and clapped. Paula bowed, Ninten going for the s’mores now that they were free to move again, and Tony jumping from the porch to run over and lay a very, very careful kiss to Jeff’s face. Ness gave Lucas a look, who gave Paula a look, who gave Jeff a thumbs up, while he just hid his face in embarrassment.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Yeah, Lucas never wanted to leave these losers.</span>
</p>
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